Annual reporting deadline reminder for charities

The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland will this month issue reminders to around 2,000 registered charities, highlighting that they will soon be due to submit their accounts and reports to the regulator.

The reminder email will go out to applicable charities with a financial year end of 31 March 2023. Under the law, charities have ten months from the end of the financial year in which to submit their accounts and reports – a deadline of 31 January 2024.

However, with the new traffic light system being introduced to the register of charities later this year, it is particularly important that all charities are aware of and meet their annual reporting deadline.

Rossa Keown, Head of Compliance and Enquiries at the Commission, explained: “Under the new traffic light system, expected to go live later this year, the public will be able to see on the register of charities if a charity has submitted their accounts to the Commission on time, late or not at all.

“This is a major change to the current system and, once introduced, any charity which misses their forthcoming submission deadline will be flagged as amber or red – which may cause their supporters and funders to ask why,” Rossa added.

To assist charities in meeting their deadline, the Commission issues reminder emails to charities on a set schedule each year – ten months, three months and one month before the deadline date.

While the reminders are issued directly to the charity contact, feedback has been received from some charities indicating that they haven’t received the emails.

“We would encourage charities to watch out for our emails, which might end up in either their inbox or spam/junk folder, and mark them as from a safe sender,” added Rossa.

“It is also vital that the trustees ensure their charity’s register entry is up to date, including the relevant contact details, so they don’t miss important updates and alerts from the Commission.

“That is why trustees should also be aware of who the contact person is in your charity. If they move on from your charity and you do not update your entry with new contact details, you may miss important correspondence from the Commission.

“And, with the new traffic light system due to go live in December, it is more important than ever that charities submit all the required information in good time and before their deadline,” he said.

Further information on the new traffic light system, including what information will be displayed on the register is available online here.

The Commission has produced new guidance on the annual monitoring return. This is a practical guide that sets out what you need to have to hand before commencing the return, and only takes about 10 minutes to read. ‘ARR05 How to complete the Annual Monitoring Return – 10 minute guide’ can be found on the Commission’s website here.

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